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Decoration Frustration Solved

Our upstairs bathroom. Sigh. It is one of those rooms which, no matter what you do to it, seems to be a permanent source of frustration. Inially I thought it was fine. To be perfectly honest, when we viewed the house and the estate agent opened the door to the upstairs bathroom I thought to myself “That’ll do. We won’t need to do anything in here for a while”. Compared to the downstairs bathroom, it was what you’d call harmless.

I thought it had potential to be better, but was alright for now. We had rooms needing a proper renovation. Having a fully functioning bathroom was great. Over time, as we did up room after room and the house started to feel more and more our own, I began to detest the upstairs bathroom.

I liked the sink, the skylight and the slanting ceiling. I didn’t like, well, everything else – the yellowing electric sockets, the ugly grey putty, the orangey wooden ceiling and the picture tiles dotted randomly around the floor-to-ceiling tiled walls.

Now and then I would stand in the bathroom and try to come up with ideas to improve it. Initially I brightened it up with some wall stickers, a matching shower curtain and some colour-coordinated bath mats. That improved things for a while.

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During our month in Ireland this summer, I had a chance to relax outside of my own four walls. With a bit of distance between myself and the bathroom, as well as some time to browse the shops, I was suddenly hit with a few ideas. I pounced on them, ordering what I had seen in the shops and having it shipped directly to Germany.

Usually what happens when I see items I love in Ireland is that I buy them and struggle to find the space to take them home. Or I don’t buy them and regret it afterwards. Lately though I discovered that Dunnes Stores has an online shop now AND they ship internationally for free when you spend over €100. With the homewares I wanted and some clothes for the boys, I ended up with a great haul for the €103 I spent.

When the huge box arrived from Ireland, a few days after we returned home, I was thrilled. Everything was as lovely as I remembered and nothing had broken en route, despite the shipment containing ceramics and glass.

Here’s what was in the box:

1 x teal, white and grey striped toothbrush tumbler €5

1 x teal, white and grey striped soap dispenser €8

1 x teal, white and grey striped holder incl. toilet brush €15

2 x bathroom mats (one duck egg, one grey) €7 each

2 x hand towels in a geometric design in duck egg and grey €8 each

For €58 I bought the basis of a new look for my bathroom. When I had it all unpacked, I realised that the T. K. Maxx bathmat and the Orla Kiely facecloth I already had could be combined with the new accessories.

There before me I had the makings of a nice bathroom. I had a colour scheme and a few ideas. Over the course of the next few weeks I threw myself into turning the bathroom from bleak and dreary to sleek and and bright.

Next week I’ll be posting how I got on with the second part of my budget bathroom transformation.

[I bought and paid for all of the above mentioned products myself. I was not asked or paid to mention Dunnes Stores. This is not a sponsored post. I just want to share my purchases and the fact that there is free international shipment.]

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